Konigreichan Defenses
"Young people from all corners of the Konigreich are joining up to protect our future. They're doing their part, are you? Join the Gebirgetruppen, and protect the nation! Service guarantees citizenship. Would you like to know more? Contact your nearest recruiter today!" Propaganda flier for the Gebirgetruppen Marinsoldat. The defensive measures of the Grunwald Konigreich are often likened to a coin- it has two faces, and neither can effectively exist without the other. These faces are the Gebirgetruppen and the Unterpoliezi. This Man's Army The Gebirgetruppen are, ostensibly, the first and last lines of defense for those rare occasions when the nation becomes embroiled in war. Everyone who lives in the Konigreich serves in the Gebirgetruppen for at least a small portion of their lives. The length of service is dictated by race- Humans and similarly shorter-lived races serve for ten years, Dwarves and Half-Elves for fourty, and long-lived races such as the Elves and Mechnoids have a minimum expected service time of two centuries. These mandatory service years do not need to be consecutive, breaks from service are allowed for the sake of establishing or securing non-military employment venues and resolving personal or familial issues. Until one has finished their mandatory service, they are considered to be second-class citizens and have limited legal rights to ownership of property and business. Concientious objection is not optional, but being part of a non-combat unit- such as supply or intelligence- is. There are many ways to serve the Konigreichan military, and everyone must do their part. The mandatory service laws ensure that the Gebirgetruppen possess significant numbers at all times, which is critical for the security of the nation in the face of hostile powers who would see them destroyed or subjugated for their ideals. To protect themselves, the Gebirgetruppen are trained by military professionals brought in from the nation's allies, who provide a wide array of military doctrines; though being mostly Elvish, the Gebirgetruppen prefers to rely more on magical defenses more than anything else. And because they are a purely defensive force, the Gebirgetruppen have become exceptionally skilled at exploiting every advantage their territory can offer them. As per their battle doctrines, they prefer to play waiting games with those who look at them as a target for conquest, setting up impenetrable defenses and forcing their enemies to batter themselves against it in futility or simply sit and wait until such time as they can no longer afford to lay siege to the nation any longer. Even though the Gebirgetruppen are, on paper, nothing more than the Konigreich's standing army, they possess what is basically absolute control over all aspects of the military, including the Marinsoldat and the Luftvormund- the Marine Corps and Air Forces. The Gebirgetruppen also possess considerable influence and control over the civilian police forces, and whenever more law enforcement agents are needed they are often reinforced by the army. This control, which none of the other branches contest, allows for fast and easy coordination of forces in times of crisis, making it difficult for hostile forces to disrupt communications and teamwork between agencies who are all well aware that they should never be working against each other. Because genuine threats to the Konigreich's safety are uncommon, members of the Gebirgetruppen often have considerable amounts of free time. This free time is carefully managed and scheduled by their leaders, who are often forced into a position where they must simply make up work to be done to keep everyone busy. Aside from necessary drilling and combat practice, all sorts of activities are made up as needed- regular televised parade marches, cross-factional drills with regiments from other nations, and assisting in the policing of the nation are all popular methods for keeping the grunts active and busy. The activity most favored is often cross-factional drilling, as it provides opportunities for socialization with allied militaries- the Ryengo Empire in particular is known to send over several regiments every year for "war games" which are often used as an excuse for the Ryengan soldiery to visit their friends in what is affectionately known as "The Schoolgirl Battalion." Big Brother Is Watching The other half of the defensive equation for the Konigreich is the Unterpoliezi; the secret police who are- supposedly- everywhere and watching everyone. All clandestine operations, all matters of propaganda, internal controls, everything that the public does not see falls under the jurisdiction of the Unterpoliezi. They answer directly and solely to the Oberhaupt and are, at all times, watching every corner of the nation, working their fingers to the bone to keep the Konigreich safe from threats within and without. To accomplish this, they are authorized to use virtually any and all means at their disposal, provided the Oberhaupt and his support staff approves of their requests and suggested techniques. It is not by force of military alone that the Konigreich is kept safe, it is also by an incredibly complex game of subterfuge and misinformation regarding the true nature and strength of the valley kingdom which is fed to the rest of the Trifecta on a regular basis, keeping everyone guessing as to whether or not they really are a nation of pacifists, or whether or not this is merely a front for a brutally oppressive regime. Unterpoliezi agents organize all manner of propaganda and lies, and upload them to every media outlet they can to ensure that nobody knows what's really going on inside their borders save for those who are closest to them. To help cultivate an image of strength and brutality, they use every faction available- most often the Gebirgetruppen, sometimes religious groups- to achieve their ends. One of the favored, and perhaps most effective, methods of the Unterpoliezi is the use of "re-education camps". The diverse racial population of the Konigreich allows the Unterpoliezi to organize groups of supposedly right-wing fanatics within the Gebirgetruppen and fake "rights groups" and have them target racial and sometimes ethnic minorities. Every few years, a sizable number of these minorities are rounded up and vanish for several months to hidden locations within the Escatils, where footage and pictures are doctored to make it appear as though the people who have been targeted are being brutally beaten and brainwashed into obedience. This doctored evidence to the "brutality" of the Konigreich is then filtered through spy networks established for the sole purpose of feeding the information to the Konigreich's enemies. The reality behind these "camps" is only known to those powers allied with the nation- they're basically vacation spots where the people rounded up are encouraged to play rough and dirty games with each other and with their "captors" while professional camera crews record as much as possible and edit all footage gathered to create terrifying film reels of humanoid rights abuses. This creates a considerable amount of confusion for hostile powers: who are simultaneously being told that the Grunwald Konigreich is a weak nation ripe for the picking, and that it possesses some of the most vicious and depraved oppressors in history. Grunwald Konigreich Back to Main Page